About 10 years ago while recovering from the house fire by way of thrifting, I wrote posts about how I’ve shopped thrift stores my whole life, when it was popular and when it wasn’t. It ticks several boxes for me. It is exploring, a treasure hunt, and education. What is this? It is environmentally friendly because keeps things out of the landfill, reduces the pollution of production and keeps things local. It’s also great for the budget. Even though sometimes a thrift store will price things above retail, usually they price them at a bargain, especially if you’re not in a hurry. There is no telling what you will find in a thrift store. I even go to thrift stores on vacation sometimes instead of more expensive entertainment. I know. I can be a little over the top sometimes.
The cup in the photo is a pretty perfect estate sale find from today. I didn’t think it was priced and took it up to ask. The manager said $6. They did have a lot of mugs that were $6, so no surprise, but then I realized my thumb was on the price (actually $3), sooo glad I discovered that while she was still looking. I’d hate to go do the rest of my shopping, only to come back and have her think I had switched prices!
My new old souvenir holding my favorite bromeliad
So what makes this perfect? There was nothing this kitsch in the gift shop when I was at the Grand Canyon. I love Saguaro cactus and vintage ceramics. This cup even still has the cold paint on the flowers. That stuff usually washes away decades before you ever see it, and it’s definitely toast if anyone ever put it in the dishwasher.
I don’t even remember if I got a souvenir from my own trip to the Grand Canyon. I went with someone who was trying hard to talk me out of making the side trip. I wonder what the trip was like for the original owner of this cup? Did they go in an old 50s station wagon? Was it more off the beaten path when they went? Did they hike or camp? Was it a geologist or someone who wanted to rock hound nearby? Did someone try to talk them out of their trip? Did they just grab an easy mug in a gas station gift spot and never even see it?
Wonder, of all kinds is part of thrifting, (at least for me) and now I have a reminder now that one day, I said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get the opportunity to do this again and I really want to see it now while I do.” and so we went. I held my baby girl in her pouch and my son by the hand as I had a slightly panicky, protective moment looking over the edge.
I’d like to go again, spend more time, do more things, but if I never get that chance, I’ve seen the Grand Canyon, and I have a super cool bit of kitsch to help me remember some of the better things about my life.
I am the least conventional thinker I know. I’m willing to conform when appropriate, just sometimes clueless about where that proverbial box is.
I had a pre-calc professor who lectured on convention, how the quadrants were always numbered the same way, starting with “I” in the upper right, continuing counter clockwise with “II” in the upper left. He spent 5 minutes saying that we followed these standard conventions so that everyone would know what to expect and do. He continued that there was nothing wrong with being unconventional, unless you happened to meet an unconventional thinker (going against traffic) in a Mack Truck.
On the Trail
This past week, I’ve been riding like I did before we put the video project on hold. It felt good but tiring because I was also restricting calories to loose the extra pounds that are still, somehow, hanging on.
Tuesday, I started at Big Creek Park in Roswell. Just after I started, still in the Roswell section, there was a private car on the path.
This isn’t the first time I’ve known a car to be on this trail in Roswell. About 3 years ago, several excited walkers and cyclists warned me to be careful because there was a car on the trail. I never saw that one, but I did report the claim to the mountain bike (MTB) team manager, because sometimes they use the greenway to go between MTB trails, or for cardio.
I don’t think the team manager believed me. Days later, I asked an officer patrolling the trail if anyone had reported the car. He said “No. If there had been a car out here, we’d know it.” He was ultra-confident, but I had seen the faces of the people warning me. I didn’t push it.
I rarely put myself at risk of selfie suicide, but after that experience, the first thing I did when I saw this car was to whip out my phone and get the proof.
The car slowed to a near stop. I passed. No one was excited this time. Perhaps because this car was moving so slowly, or maybe because they had seen it happen before. It occurred to me that the driver actually could have mistaken the paved path, 12 feet wide in most places, for a place they were allowed to drive. Who knows?
There are a lot of boardwalks in Roswell, and they weren’t built for automobile traffic. Getting stuck out there could be a real mess.
A car on Big Creek Greenway in Roswell
Moments later I saw someone pushing an adult trike up one of the bridges that passes over the stream. These bridges create small, but relatively steep hills in the otherwise flat winding streambed trail. The person on the trike clearly had a degenerative disease and the person pushing was helping them to get their physical therapy.
Should the two of them have met the car, it would have been like meeting that unconventional thinker in the Mack Truck. Following convention and behaving predictably doesn’t matter in so many places where people get all hung up about it, but on the trail it does.
What should you do? I follow “If you see something say something” only so far as I think it could prevent harm.
We all have bad days, miscommunications, distracting thoughts, missed guesses as to the speed or intentions of others. We find ourselves in situations that are unfamiliar and have to stop to figure out what to do, where to go, how to adjust.
Children don’t always do what their grown-ups say. Grown-ups don’t always read signs or know trail etiquette. Some pets are perfectly trained and others lead their owners around and around. Some groups are trying to negotiate a perfect storm of these things, or not thinking outside the conversation they’re having.
You didn’t expect the trail to narrow without warning right after a 90 degree turn, where the kids (and adults) like to watch through the grates as cars pass overhead, just at the grassy shoulder turns to rip-rap made of 2 ft stones? (Haynes Bridge Overpass in Alpharetta). There are a few distracting things inside that pretty short distance. They sometimes cause people to crowd and linger in the space.
It isn’t reasonable to assume that all trail users can hear cyclists or other people with wheels call their pass, even when they don’t have their ears stuffed or covered with audio devices.
People turn around, or step into a piece of trash to pick it up without looking or warning just as cyclists or skaters come up beside them. Faster trail users can’t reliably guess the age or mobility of slower trail users in a split second as they pass, especially on a curve. At some point anyone with wheels is going to be closer and faster than some of those without are comfortable having them.
There are even wildlife surprises on the trail sometimes. Have you ever really wished that squirrel would just decide which way to go ad do it, so that you could too? There’s a doe. Where’s the fawn?
And that guy who does double the speed limit on his Onewheel (electric unicycle), his knees, shins, wrists and elbows are padded in motorcycle grade safety gear (but no one he might collide with is). I’ve even seen a guy on a manual unicycle going faster than I knew was possible. It surprised me that his speed and mass intimidated me.
For all these reasons and more, convention (trail etiquette and rules), intention (kindness) and attention (knowing what’s going on in shared multi-use space) makes all the difference.
Some trails have specific rules. It’s always a good idea to read any that are posted, even if you’re experienced.
Going to the trail during low traffic reduces the number of interactions, but it is never ok to assume you can break with safety protocols because no one else will be out there, not even when you’re three counties out in the country during the pandemic.
Anything can and does happen, and if you assumed you were the only person out there, it will catch you more off guard when it does.
And if you’re that road cyclist who’s been taught to take control of the lane, remember to leave that attitude on the road while you’re on the trail. You are the fast, heavy, thing with momentum when you’re here.
And those traffic grade head lights? Trails are closed when you need those. I’m not talking about the low intensity lights that you can’t switch off on bikes like the Synapse. I’m talking about the high intensity lights that are competing with car headlights to be seen. Those are too bright to shine in the eyes of people that close. There’s a little bit of time, just before the trails close when it’s just dark enough for people’s eye to be adjusting to the low level light for those lights to blind people. Blind people aren’t as good at staying out of your way.
Understanding the needs and capabilities of trail users unlike yourself makes trail mishaps so much less frequent.
It is the responsibility of everyone to follow the conventions that keep us all safe in the space, but it is especially the responsibility of the strongest, fastest, heaviest and ablest users to make sure that they don’t harm others.
I understand how hard it is to pay attention and be conventional sometimes, especially in a place you may have come to for escape and distraction. I make so many mistakes myself. But, I accept that safety is important for everyone on the trail. Conforming to general and local rules, regulations and etiquette, considering others and being predictable reduces pain and makes all the difference. I hope you’ll join me in giving it your best effort.
Keep it safe. Have a glorious day, and we’ll see you on the trail.
My hair was getting shorter and shorter with every cut. Then Coronaplague came along and it started getting longer and longer. I didn’t know when I’d want to get it cut. Then one day I pulled it back to get it out of the way and there it was, enough length for most of it to go in a ponytail holder.
That made my decision. If I committed to growing my hair for the duration of the pandemic, I wouldn’t have to think about when to go to a salon again, I’d just stick with “let it grow” and make a ponytail donation at the end. This will be my second ponytail donation. My Son inspired me for the first. I figured if he was going to do it, then I could too.
I planned to put up a progress photo of my ponytail every week, thinking if anyone saw it they, might do the same. My photos got further and further apart and the pandemic lasted till my hair got scraggly. I decided to do the ponytail shag that a hairdresser friend taught me back in high school. It looked a little better. I did that 3 times before lopping it all off.
At the end, I looked up donation sites and found that everyone else had the same idea as me. There was more hair available than donation recipients can handle. That lifts my spirits. Give us a pandemic and we’ll make lemonade, or, you know, wigs. I cut it after omicron eased and hung on to the donation part. I’ll donate it when it’s needed again. And, here are the photos I did entered in reverse order, beginning with the final result. Maybe it’s enough to put bangs on a wig ?!?! :). My hair has been really quite thin since I had a high temperature in childhood.
My hair grayed a lot during the pandemic. I already had gray highlights about the face before. Russ likes them. One person thought I had them done at a salon. Most people didn’t even notice. There was a lot more gray noticeable when I cut all this off because the longer older hairs were gone, and the newer stressed hairs were more prominent. For some people, the color comes back after a bout of stress subsides, but I’m not holding my breath, or even particularly concerned. I do care about my overall health and know how important managing my stress response is. At the same time, I’m glad that some high profile people are conspicuously refusing to hide the expression that the passage of time has on their bodies. It makes the fact that I’m not going to alter my body or appearance as I age stand out less. I don’t know, maybe one day, when my hair is completely white, I’ll color it for the first time. Purple might suit me…
Last Ponytail PhotoT-shirt bought at America’s National Winston Churchill Museum in Fulton, MO
This was a page (had a button in the black bar above) while I was growing my hair out and sharing progress regularly, but I’ve copied it into a post now, leaving the higher profile slot available to site redesign.
The inside of a balloon, flipped. It actually reads Woo Hoo as seen when flying outside above this balloon.
Ballooning is one of my fondest pursuits. We’ve had fun with so many people. We’ve shared wonderful experiences, as well as tragedies, with friends, family and strangers in balloons.
That English teacher who opened the world for me through literature was rumored to be writing a book. So, one day I asked her. She said “I think everyone has at least one book in them.” Mine would be centered around ballooning. Honestly, I have started the book. I’ve been writing it for years, but I need to get disciplined to finish it, to make it readable.
I haven’t actually had the chance to be in a balloon for years, but here are some highlights from when I was ballooning regularly. I took all of the photos that I’m not in. The others were probably taken by who ever was standing around with whatever camera I was using at the time.
Hot Air Ballooning (HAB)
The pretty colors and large events that many people think of are primarily in hot air balloons. That’s a Lighter Than Air (LTA) craft with and onboard heater (the burners). Pilots and Aircraft have to be certified by the FAA.
ABQ Fiesta 2001 when they had 1000 balloons. This Adams Pop Top, has a really unique deflation system.
There are all kinds of balloons and all kids of ballooning, from festivals and joy rides to serious international level competition and record breaking flights.
Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Kentucky, near Lexington
Do you ever push your personal boundaries, try to blow past your hang-ups? Or, at least take baby steps? I, the person who would rarely turn down a hot air balloon ride, am afraid of heights. That sounds irrational. And partly, it is, but, not like the person who jumps out of an airplane to get over their fear of heights. I’ll jump out of an airplane right after the pilot hands me a ‘chute, and says they’re leaving because they can’t land the aircraft. Why am I okay in a balloon? There’s no “walking through the fire” element for me there. In the basket of a balloon, I can see the condition of all the working parts. I know which weather conditions are safe. I trust the physics (and most Lighter Than Air (LTA) pilots).
My fear is both rational and irrational. My mother is afraid of heights. She never told me that she was, until I was grown and said that I was. Her theory: I sensed her fear, picked up non-verbal cues, and got it from her. Brains do work that way, but still, that’s the irrational part.
The rational part is my fear of things built by the lowest bidder, or a skimping contractor, or that were inspected by someone with things other than safety on their minds. Physical objects fail, and they fail especially badly when they’re not built to code, or maintained to standards. That goes for buildings, bridges, and roller coasters and ski lifts. As an adult, I’ve stood in line for a roller coaster with friends or family and not known, until the very last minute, if I would get on, or wait for them below. Those rides that mimic a falling elevator? I don’t consider them. I don’t even look in the direction of the screams when they’re running.
Sometimes I Deal with My Fear Better than Others
Once, my then husband grabbed me at the edge of a scenic overlook, and pretended he was going to throw me over. I wasn’t dealing with the fear well back then. Go figure, right? Something in him needed to get a big reaction, or maybe it made him feel strong. I don’t really know. After 2+ decades, I stopped trying to understand, or wait it out, and I ended the relationship.
I’ve been better lately, even occasionally wondering if the fear evaporated. I found out the day after the eclipse.
When ever we drive a long way, I start looking for things to do so we can make the most of resources spent. While doing so, I found Kentucky’s Natural Bridge. It became part of our trip plan.
Then, immediately before the trip, I had a collision with a doe. (BTW, when a deer runs in front of your car, the thing to do is look for pals. I did that, but I thought the other one had decided to turn around. Instead, she leapt and hit the back end of my car).
So, I had 24 hours to report and deal with the incident, to remove the pre-packing we had done. Sort stuff that always stays in the car, reassess- If I don’t need it on a road trip, do I need to have it in the car at all? I had to get an estimate and switch to a rental car, then re-pack. Then, I spent the night before we left Georgia tossing cookies and thought I wasn’t even going to make the trip. Russ thought it was stress. So much of life goes to eleven. I decided he was right. The symptoms passed in less than 24 hours without fever. If I wasn’t contagious it was ok to go, but I started the trip wrung out, none the less.
We enjoyed the eclipse with family, played games, laughed a lot and it was good. It was overdue family communion. But, now, I had the edge of a migraine creeping in, and that week before the trip, the week we had earmarked for getting a lot done on the T-shirts, Russ got a diabetes diagnosis. We spent that week dealing with the news and figuring out a lifestyle change instead.
When the time came, we were iffy about the Natural Bridge side trip. It was only an extra 40 minutes drive, but the weather was damp and cool. That rarely puts us off, but did cause us to opt for a hotel instead of pitching the tent. The truth of it is that we were exhausted.
Natural Bridge day was also Russ’s birthday, so I told him to decide whether to go. All things considered, it was near a coin toss, but we don’t make many trips, and being in nature cures some ills, especially those related to stress. We went.
We climbed up to balance rock first. It was beautiful and inviting, but both of us had lead legs and body pains. We usually want the exercise, but the steep grade wasn’t being kind to my knee, which was tired of being in a car. Russ asked if I wanted to take the tram up to the Natural Bridge. I did. We went to that parking lot. I said “Oh, it’s a ski lift.” Russ asked me if I’d be ok, and I said I would.
It was a beautiful ride with spring ephemerals blooming, turkey pecking at patches of feed in the grass, and squirrels scampering about. My nerves started really talking to me when the steepness of the last section became apparent. If I’m going to do this ever again, I need to learn what keeps the the lift seat from slipping on the cable through steep inclines. When the fear starts, I analyze things like how far the fall is. Is it survivable? How far and rocky is the roll after the fall? Is that survivable? If survivable, would I ever be the same afterward? Then, I ask for conversation before I can go further down that road. Russ like most anyone else who is with me, starts to say soothing things about the safety of components to the ride, then I re-direct. “No, talk to me about anything else. It’s distraction I need.”
On Top of Things
As we reached the top, I noted the proximity of the landing ramp to the edge of terra firma and knew that on the way back down, I’ll have to be prepared for it to feel like the ground just dropped away immediately after my seat scoops me up.
The walk from the lift to the top of the bridge was fairly short and flat with trees on either side. Then the top of the bridge was wide and flat, easy to cross and very open. The wind was gusting on this side of the slope with a drop of rain here and there, and I was in residual fear mode. I told Russ to amuse himself at his own pace. I’d be along. His own pace, of course, is with a ready hand at my side. He’s a keeper.
We explored the bridge from different angles, went through “Fat Man’s Squeeze”, (maybe it’s time to rename that?) met another person challenging her own fears, and took pictures for strangers who reciprocated. People on the stairs and through the squeeze were all very respectful of each other. We had a good time, but didn’t stay long. The rain was picking up, and fears aside, we wanted to take the tram down. Hiking down slippery rocks when you don’t feel good could be its own can of worms.
I asked Russ to take this in front of the rocks behind the steeper incline, even though this is my white knuckle look. My arm is behind his because I’m holding tight to both sides so I don’t move in the seat.
On the way down, I settled pretty quickly after the steep section, but never let go of the death grip I had on the bars on either side of the lift seat, even though that grip was shoving my spine into the back of the chair uncomfortably. Wind on the tram side was much lighter, and it didn’t gust at all until we were pretty near the grassy bottom.
I do think I’ll read (or listen to) some books, watch some videos and do some meditations geared toward getting rid of this fear once and for all. After all, danger is real, but fear is in the brain, and it can motivate all kinds of bad choices.
Have a Glorious Day, and we’ll see you on the trail.
It was Mom wisdom (my mother’s) that lead me to meat tenderizer, not for cooking though. I don’t care for it in cooking. I use it for insect bites. Some doctors will laugh at you for suggesting it, but it is in the recommended treatment listed by Johns Hopkins here, and there’s a simple explanation. Meat tenderizer breaks down protein. If the venom is protein based the meat tenderizer can help. If you get stung or bit by something with venom that isn’t, it won’t.
Riding on the Silver Comet, and other places I occasionally get stung. I have a pretty significant reaction to wasp bites. Last time, I looked like I’d gone in for over the top lip fillers, and the bright redness on my pale skin was impressive. I was bright red and swollen and smarting for a week. You know how it is when you know it’s going to be okay in the end, but in the mean time you want to scream and crawl outside of your skin? Bigger than “normal” reactions mean that at any time, the next sting could be worse, possibly anaphylactic shock level worse, and epi pens might not be a good solution for me because I have Raynaud’s Syndrome.
It hadn’t been happening terribly often, so when it did, I found myself looking for Benadryl and meat tenderizer after the fact. Finding unseasoned meat tenderizer last minute has been nigh impossible. So, I ordered straight papain (an enzyme from raw papaya that is the active ingredient in some meat tenderizers). It’s expensive, but not as expensive as a Dr., or hospital visit when you don’t have health care coverage. I put together a kit with papain, a Band-Aid, Benadryl and sanitizing wipes for my bike bag and put the remaining papain in my freezer.
I got stung yesterday. I was mad when that paper wasp lit on my leg and stayed till he stung me, not scared, mad, just like the time I flipped over my handle bars. The flash of anger wasn’t over the potential pain. It was the anticipation of possibly being debilitated. Did I have my kit? Of course not! It’s mid-March! I had taken it out when I cleaned the bike bag. I thought about getting it back in, but it’s March! I wasn’t rushing.
So, I cut the ride short, called Russ to tell him to pay attention to whether he got my “I’m off the trail” message and headed to the car. It was swelling and red enough that I thought any trail user who looked at my leg would notice from a distance. Before I got to the car, it was really stinging and my toes were tingling. I was concerned. My kit was in the car. I had gotten it that far. I mixed my “good stuff” pure papain with water from my water bottle, applied it, covered it with a cute Welly bandage (because they stick so well) and took a Benadryl. About 15 minutes later the pain was seriously decreased, and another 15 minutes later I called Russ and told him things had become a non-event, that he didn’t need to pay any special attention to a call he might receive from me. I took Benadryl last time and was miserable for a week. The difference this time was the meat tenderizer, the good stuff, not the grocery store weak sauce.
It used to be years between stings, but now I’ve had 3 in less than a year’s span. The kit will stay in the bag now, or I won’t ride. I stopped for an errand on the way home. Another wasp brushed my arm. I backed away, pulling my arm back, thinking WTH? Where are these guys coming from?!?! I think I’ll put together a kit for my purse too.
For a little extra cheer, my MIL Tongue or Snake plant in bloom*
January had a lot of “more of the same” as December, but also some differences. We’ve had temperatures colder than my tolerance, some with rain in 3, 5 & 10 day runs causing the dread interruptions that really mess with my equilibrium. I’ve been better at staving off the exercise endorphin highs and lows with the stationary bike. Some time back, my grandson built me a computer deck that attaches to the stationary bike, so I can write while moving. I’ve really gotten good use out of that. I spend a lot of time multitasking.
These monthly updates for the project are going to change a little. They were originally designed to give a progress report in prep for our Kickstarter goal, as keeping supporters up to date on progress is a requirement. The best way to establish that you’re willing to do that is to start, and be consistent, especially when you’re unknown to the market, like us. I’m still going to be consistent and it may well still lead into a video.
But, in recognition of a few things, this segment will become more about what I do to stay healthy as I age. One reason is that the video project is feeling more distant to me now than it ever has, at least in its current form. I’m not so sure I need to put my body through two century (100 mile) rides a week anymore. It might even be more interesting to more people if the video project became more accessible. If people can see themselves doing a thing, it might be easier for them to get behind it. In addition to that, we all have bodies, and we are all aging, no matter the current number is, it’s getting bigger. Some of my posts may be specific to women, but half of us are female, so that’s fine.
I’ve been following Gurdeep Pandher. Sometimes he shows up in my feed just when I need the very stress reduction that he wishes to share. When he does, I take the time to click and watch him dance, and I receive that gift. Sometimes it’s just simple dance. I think I get the easiest attitude adjustment from those bits, and that is really nice. But then, sometimes there is a lot going on, like in this cultural fusion video, and that’s it’s own little trip. I’m going to count following Gurdeep as the first way I share to stay healthier as I age.
Following Gurdeep has helped me in another way too. He recently released a video about positivity. It’s a hoot! I recommend you watch it. It’s less than 4 minutes long, but he says it took him a year and a half to put it together. After scrambling to put our video together, starting from scratch and jumping around hurdles along the way, I believe that. What’s more it helps me cope with some of my feelings of failure and helps me to keep going.
So, there’s our change up, and we’ll see where our new slant on the old direction takes us.
Until next time, have a glorious day and we’ll see you on the trail!
* I bought this plant from an estate sale. The pot was huge, not garden variety huge. I mean really HUGE. The man who sold it to me was afraid to let me carry it down the stairs from the back deck. I wasn’t completely sure I’d make it myself, but it had belonged to his wife and he wanted it to live. When I got home I wasn’t able to get it out of the car alone. I’ve since divided it into so many smaller pots and given them away to a lot of people. The plants divided from this pot are the only ones I’ve ever had that bloomed. I’ve figured out that at full bloom, they last less than 24 hours, so I snapped this picture last night when I saw it.
December is always the most challenging month for fitness. It has the shortest days, the coldest weather, and when when a warm front moves in, it usually brings rain with it. I get the initial flush of excitement as I scan the daily highs in the 10 day forecast, and then I check the precipitation, and the excitement falls away. There are no days in the current ten day forecast that meet my pre-project ride day parameters. And, to cheer the long cool nights, so many people are eating their favorite high calorie foods. Maintaining an even keel takes perseverance. I’ve failed a bit and so my weight suffered a bit, as well as the blood pressure. There appears to be a line, and I’ve crossed back to the wrong side of it. I’m working on getting on the right side. The calorie/macro counting is underway.
December also has the solstice. With that longest night/shortest day behind us, each day grows a little longer and the time when most weeks have plenty of ridable hours moves closer and closer.
The big hike is over for Russ, but we continued walks up Kennesaw Mountain on colder days for the cardio and cross training. The views are so nice from the mountain in the winter when the ozone counts are lower and visibility is amazing.
Russ had a hike buddy share some Dr. advice for knees, walking backwards uphill. Today I did it on a hill that was steep enough that I think it may help sub for some of the strength training that I’m missing since letting the Y membership go.
Russ will be getting healthcare coverage next year, yea! His is quite expensive, but mine is 4 times the cost of his, so I won’t. I do not understand why the cost difference is so big. He’s younger, but I have no pre-existing conditions that should effect my rate, and the quotes I got didn’t take health information. It’s a mystery. It should be based on straight actuarial numbers, and I don’t know any reason my risk of needing catastrophic or long-term care should be so different from his.
Regardless, we’re thankful for the improvement in his situation, and I’ll be looking into formal employment, and deciding more urgently whether or not I need to give up on the video project to gain healthcare coverage for myself. The rubs are that the riding helps me to get along without healthcare better. It will be a challenge to find employment that comes with healthcare coverage and still allows me to keep up family obligations, and it’s hard to choose to work a job that pays little more than the cost of healthcare coverage, especially when pursuing other options makes me less likely to need said coverage. Choices, choices. They make all the difference.
I’m listening to The Ikigai Journey. I started it New Years Eve. I thought I had chosen another book about Forest Bathing, but my mistake was serendipity. The authors are talking about making impossible Shinkansen (stretch) goals, and then meeting them.
I already have one of the good kind, and it’s time for me to go there. Having purpose has never been a challenge for me, but narrowing my energy to a manageable number of purposes has, and having it pay for my life? I’m not as good at following a purpose that does that. It’s not a conscious choice, more a result of what it is that I find rewarding.
This will be my year to solve my healthcare and financial problems while maintaining purpose. I’m stating my first shinkansen goal now. I want to sell 8 million of the primary T-shirt that we are working on. The reason isn’t just personal or financial. Those goals are important, but I also want the message on our shirt to have it’s moment in the sun and make a difference to people and planet.
Here’s hoping you find your purpose and have a year filled with glorious days! Until net time, see you on the trails.
Summit of Kennesaw Mountain, survey Marker in front and a canon behind the fence. Taken Dec 1, AM
We’ve had some good rides in November, but today was my first enjoyable ride all month. We’ve had more good walks. In some ways it has been a lot like last month, only more days that were cooler than my current ride parameters, and as we near the Winter Solstice, days continue to shorten. Combined with “falling back” out of Daylight Savings Time, this is the most challenging time of the year to get a ride in. Mad props to the hardy souls in northern climes who ride in any weather or light level.
Russ is in Linville Gorge hiking as I write. That’s in the Pisgah National Forest, and hopefully he has prepped well enough for the ups and downs. Last time he had severe back pain for months afterward. It was this great experience with euphoric level endorphins followed by pain so intense and stiff that he missed a week of work and was not able to sit for a ridiculous amount of time. That was when he first put his desk on cement blocks so he could work standing.
The T-shirts are coming along. We had some personal stuff this month, my Mom’s 90th birthday in south Alabama, and Russ’s Dad visited for Thanksgiving. I needed to straighten up the house anyway :). But, when weekends are what you have, giving up two of them costs. As usual, our goals were more ambitious than our amount of available time allowed, only more so.
I found a way to be ok with it though. As I look at the tidal wave of advertisements trying to get that holiday cash, it became more ok. Do you get as many “Sadly we’re closing our store, but you can get our products for half price” ads as I do? They come from companies I’ve never heard of and show products that are actually somewhat interesting. The “half price” always seems to be a price one would charge at full retail. For many of them, I can go straight to Amazon and order the same exact brand for the same money, or less. I’m actually glad to separate our shirts from the season of selling hype. Just give me a minute and I can find the silver lining in anything.
This last week I experienced some old family conflict, frustration so old and tired it doesn’t break my heart anymore. I am so ready for success and change.
Hope you have a glorious day sometime soon, on the trail, or anywhere else.
Some reality set in at 3AM this morning, except that it’s fall back Sunday and we haven’t reset our clocks. I’ve been up for an hour now and the laptop is just rolling around to the 3AM that the clock was showing on the ceiling when I got out of bed. And BTW, if you don’t have a clock that shows time on the ceiling, I really like ours. Honestly, it is the easiest and lowest light way to display the time in a bedroom where two people can see it. We didn’t find one with good sound, but, we use our phones to play audio and alarms, and they’re no more expensive than other inexpensive bedside clocks.
What had me not sleeping this morning was doing the math on advertising. Increases in the bite that advertising and shipping took from my sales put me out of business in my Etsy store, so it should have hit me immediately. I built the Etsy business when those costs were a smaller percentage of sales price. My margins on an average sale no longer cover the cost of being seen. While I haven’t officially announced the death of the Etsy store, I’ve downloaded all my records from the beginning and there are only two products in the shop waiting to expire.
Things look Different When You Look at Them Separately
Like many, my investigation into T-shirts started at T-shirt cost, quality and availability. I want to use a quality product that is socially and environmentally sound. That is, the company that makes the shirts pays a living wage to workers, has good workplace conditions, uses lower impact processes, and cleans up after production.
My first impression was that I could have a modest mark up and still make a good profit. That is still what I want to do, but I’ve adjusted my reality on what a modest mark up is.
T-shirt printing companies that put their prices out there for all to search just quote the cost of the T-shirt. It’s all they can do. Shipping is complex, especially international shipping, and my advertising isn’t part of their picture. On top of that, if you sell more T-shirts, economies of scale comes into play and the production cost of each individual T-shirt becomes lower. For instance, if you sell 1 T-shirt, the set up cost is attributed to that 1 T-shirt. If you sell 10, the set up cost is divided by 10. At different numbers of shirts they even change printing processes because they become more economical. Some producers keep the price break. Some pass it on to us. My job is to take into account all of the costs.
You have to get the Product to the Customer. What’s That Gonna Cost?
It depends, and quickly searched answers on the web ranged from $4 to $49 domestic. There are ways to limit shipping costs, but they don’t go away, whether you show them to the customer of not. One way to reduce costs would be not shipping internationally. We want international availability, so we’ll have to deal with it another way. $4 Doesn’t include delivery confirmation, which is pretty important, so we won’t be assessing feasibility on that rate.
It will matter if Handling is part of the T-shirt cost, or part of the shipping cost, but it will be part of the business cost of the producer, so it will be part of my price to acquire the merchandise.
I have to pick something to allow for shipping cost, so for the purposes of my feasibility assessment, I’m going to allow $8. The current lowest Priority package rate is $9.35. Priority is the USPS level that gets you delivery confirmation and a 2-3 day delivery time. There will be commercial discounts, so I’m taking that down to $8, but I’m afraid to run numbers on a lower average cost at this time.
So, you Need the Advertising to be Seen. What’s that Gonna Cost?
In checking Google Ads, I came across their marketing stating that the average advertiser gets $4 return for every $1 spent on advertising, and it was presented as a bargain. Phrased another way, advertising with Google will cost 25% of an advertisers gross to get them seen. That’s an average, not a guarantee. Why do I say gross? Because Google has no idea what any advertisers net is, or if it’s even positive. It wouldn’t separate shipping cost either because so many sellers hide the cost of shipping in the sales price to prevent sticker shock. The cost and necessity of advertising is what kept me from going back to sleep this morning. The mark up on the T-shirt has to cover all of the costs, including advertising, shipping and unexpected expenses.
What that means is sobering. Here’s an example.
Let’s say I find a socially and environmentally responsible producer who will provide a printed shirt for $20. Now add $8 for shipping to the customer, we’re at $28. The cost of the shirt has to cover advertising, which is 25% (if you’re average). 25% of 28 is $7, so add $7. Now we’re at $35. At $35 cost to the buyer on a $20 shirt, there is no pay or profit for any of the work we put in making the shirt, no reimbursement for expenses like the tablet we got for Russ to create the designs. There could be additional unexpected expenses and response to advertising could be below average. Allowing less than $5 per shirt for us and the unexpected seems risky. So, at this sample price point, we have to double the cost of the shirt to be viable, but now that we’re up to a $40 gross, 25% of that number is $10. That $5 allowance for profit, expenses and the unexpected just became $2.
If a great shirt at lower price point were to be available, shipping would be a higher percentage of that cost, so we’d scale and run the numbers again. We’ll get plenty of detail and specifics when we narrow our options and talk to sales representatives. Hopefully we’ll find some shipping relief, but we still have to look at all the costs at different price points before setting our prices. I realize that a 100% mark up is a standard since the dawn of time, but for a low overhead internet based enterprise, I didn’t expect to need that.
So it’s late for the holiday market. Can this project be a go?
Do I really believe that if anything can go right it will go right and at the best possible time? Of course I do. Can this go right?
